July 29, 2008

This Week in Points of View

The legal battle continues over gun rights in the District, as Dick Heller, the victorious plaintiff in the Supreme Court case, filed suit on Monday over the D.C. Council's latest gun regulations.

Such litigation was entirely expected, writes professor Ilya Somin. Mere judicial recognition of a constitutional right does not ensure its protection, he argues. The next set of gun cases are the ones that will determine if Heller's Supreme Court victory "has any truly significant impact."

The prominent statesmen who make up the National War Powers Commission claim that the Constitution ambiguously divides the war power between the president and Congress. Not so, contends Louis Fisher: The power belongs to Congress, and the commission's proposed War Powers Consultation Act would undercut popular government and the rule of law.